Mother

Mother is a beautiful movie, in that it gives us an insight to our relationships with our parents. While I am not female, things might be a little different for daughters, but as a son, I can see the same behaviors that have cultivated in my mother. And she can see it in her mother. My girlfriend can see it in her mother, and her grandmother. While the comedy is a little dry, and actually slightly confusing on the initial viewing, if you return to the movie after a year or so, it will make complete sense. It only gets better after that. I can understand being underwhelmed by this movie the first time. Please don't judge it too harshly. I know I would have rated it a 6 or so when I first saw it, and now I've given it a 9. Maybe I should explain why it doesn't get a 10. There are a few sequences that should have been altered. I found the date scene to be a little too long, and the Mrs Robinson sequence should have been almost completely eliminated. It is a painfully bad gag, and the humor of it is something that can only be appreciated by those of a certain mind set. Don't worry, I'm not insulting you if you like it.

I saw Mother in a theater and came away only partially impressed. Although I appreciated the witty script, I thought director/writer Albert Brooks missed making his point about the complicated relationships between mothers and sons. However, I've warmed to this film after seeing it over and over on cable. The dialogue is great, and the perpetually whining Brooks and a surprisingly droll Debbie Reynolds are a sharp comedy team. For example, I love the way Brooks wags a banana at Reynolds when she questions why women leave him. And when Brooks and his brother fight over Reynolds like she was their mistress. The ending is a little too pat -- I don't think sons ever resolve their conflicts with their mothers, or even understand them. But it's Brooks' best film after Lost in America. And that ain't bad.

I normally don't like Albert Brooks comedies because his humor is subtle, and sometimes, so sarcastic that it seems to me, that he tries too hard. He often comes off like a gigantic dufus who's every character, is always the over-looked, but honest and quite nice guy (see Broadcast News). Here, he is once again, the same character.

However, in watching this movie with my folks, I found it to be quite a funny little comedy about a grown man who tries to connect with his mother. Brooks plays John, a writer who is recently divorced. Suffering from writer's block, probably due to his recent 'problems,' he decides that he needs some sort of emotionally reinvigorating experience. One in which he is in search of "something," but he doesn't really know what it is. Sort of like, he'll know it when it happens.

He goes to spend some time with his widowed mother, Beatrice, played by the lovely Debbie Reynolds. They seem like exact opposites, she is timid, and somewhat flaky. He is rather pushy, and often, sarcastic. She appears more provincial; he comes off as more modern. It doesn't seem like they're related at first, because they're so different.

What might've started as a desire to find some inspriation to write by cooling off from a divorce, becomes a 360 drive to reconnect with his mother, and work out their innocuous differences in personality, outlook, humor, and so forth, until mother and son finally understand one another. This may not be clear to either intially that this will eventually be the ends to the vacation.

Rob Morrow plays John's equally annoying brother, a "mama's boy" type who frequently contacts Beatrice, trying to get her to be more modern and everything else like John does, but at the same time, not trying so hard to force it on her, and also, not trying like John to resolve anything laden in their relationship that may be troubling them. Though, it seems to be suggested that there is a slight "Oedepis Complex." But, Rob Morrow is only a subplot, and kind of an aggravating character at that. Beatrice seems so pleasant, and so well...motherly.

The strange reformations that John and his mother take on are quite amusing. The bit, for example, in the beginning when John first arrives at his mother's house, and she doesn't seem to have anything he likes to eat. Or, when they go to the mall together, and he tries to stop her from always feeling obligated to explain everything to strangers (like her son is a middle aged divorced man with writer's block). It's really cute. According to the trivia, Nancy Reagan was considered for Debbie Renynolds' role, which would've probably been played wonderfully by her. Some of things that Reynolds's (like the restaurant scene) is hilarious with the cursing and all of that as she becomes impatient with her son John's wanting to change her every moment.

Basically, the whole movie is Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds. John McGinnley and Lisa Kudrow show up for a minute role as the best friend and blind date (respectively). It might be worth watching for older audiences. I watched it with my folks, and they really seemd to enjoy it (they usually don't like Albert Brooks movies, either). It's worth a try.

This is a great movie that is a lot of fun. I really liked Debbie Reynolds, who I think deserved a Best Supporting Actress award for her performance. Her comic timing is perfect.

Albert Brooks is great too. He reminds somewhat of Woody Allen, playing a neurotic science fiction writer who gets writer's block. He moves back home with Mom (Reynolds) in hopes of breaking the block.

The interplay between these two great actors is marvelous, thanks to a wonderful Brooks script.

One other comment I will add is that there is practically nothing in this movie to find offensive or objectionable. Good, clean fun, with many laughs.

Brooks more recent movie, "The Muse" featured a similar theme of a writer whose talents are temporarily stifled. I wonder if there is any autobiography to Brooks' scripts, but I am sure there is not, for his stories are often full of wonderfully funny moments.

I really recommend "Mother".

With "Mother," director Albert Brooks has given us another great comedic filmmaking triumph. The acting is terrific, the laughs come at a fairly steady pace, and, like all great comedies, it has an inner meaning underneath all the smirks and giggles.

Brooks co-wrote, directed, and starred in this one, playing the somewhat unsuccessful science-fiction novelist John Henderson (he's contstantly being compared to Stephen King) who blames his problems with women on Mom. Therefore, he decides to move back in with Mother (played by Debbie Reynolds, whom Brooks somehow lured back to the big screen) and figure out their problems. What ensues might have been sitcom-style laughs, but Brooks and co-writer Monica Johnson know better than that; the laughs are pretty fast-paced but their well-observed ranting as opposed to tasteless wisecracks.

The keys to the film, however, are Brooks and Reynolds, the latter which brings a special emotional undertone to a role that would have been played as all sap by any other actress. Check "Mother" out; if you want smart, funny humor and even a tad bit of drama, you should enjoy it immensely. Rated PG-13. 104 minutes. 8 out of 10.